On Sunday morning, it was cold but sunny, so Erik and I took the dog around the neighborhood to try and take in the rays as much as our bundled selves would allow. As we were making the turn back onto Washington Blvd. we saw an old woman pull up to a stop sign. She got out of the car, leaving it running and the wipers going swish-swash, back and forth. There was no sign of rain. She turned away from the car and began walking and a brisk pace. We speculated on why in the world she would leave the car running and swish-swashing like that, especially on a day with tempuratures below freezing. We decided to follow her.
She walked quickly, so that our pace remained about fifty yards behind her. She walked and walked, determined to get somewhere. The behavior was so strange that we began to make up stories about her…
“You have to leave; he’ll be home any minute.”
“I won’t leave your embrace, you must tell him about us.”
“No! He’ll kill you! If you don’t leave this instant, I’m taking your car and leaving it at a stop sign a mile away from this house.”
No good. No good. No one would believe that this cute little old lady would have a clandestine love affair. But perhaps…
“What!?! Whose car is this? Larry, who?!? How could you?” Sobbing. She stormed out of the house, grabbed her husband’s secretary’s keys and took the car. She drove erratically, sobbing so much that she could no longer see. She stopped at the stop sign on the corner of Washington Blvd. and thought to herself, “No, I must confront him! How could he do this to me after all these years?”
Or maybe she forgot something at home. But why would she not turn the car around? What was she escaping? Did she have dementia? We continued to follow her. She walked up to a house, about a half-mile from the parked car. She went up to the garage, but couldn’t get in, so she pounded on the front door. A boy looked out the window. He was wearing a coat. There was some dialog exchanged and then the garage door opened. A man and a boy got into a shiny SUV with the woman and they drove away. We walked by as if this was our normal route.
2 comments:
Did they drive in the direction of the car she'd left? My only guess is that the car was behaving in some unacceptable fashion, and she believed she knew someone in that house to be in a position to fix it.
But then why didn't she turn the car off? That is really intriguing. I wonder how many times I've done something that's created a mystery for someone??
Post a Comment